I finished my fishy quilt last night.  It’s from the book, Modern Baby Quilts and I’ll be teaching it as a beginner applique class at The Little General in March.  I used Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Circles for the bubbles and I hand quilted it during the Olympics.  How long did the hand quilting take?  People love to ask that…I have about 20 hours in it.  Straight line hand quilting is FAST; stitching around the bubbles takes a little while.  I used inch wide masking tape to keep my lines straight and every so often I would check the lines with a big ruler just to be sure it was all even.

I washed it last night with a couple of Color Catchers.  I air dried it overnight over a shower rod and then fluffed it in the dryer for about 15 minutes this morning.  (All that keeps colors from running.)  It is nice and soft and ready for a sweet baby.

Ann’s Imari Plate

Colleen’s Imari Plate

Here are a couple of pictures from the block of the month class that Gina Allen and I taught this weekend at The Little General.  It’s a medallion quilt from Kaffe Fassett’s book, Quilts In Sweden.   Our students have several rounds to go but I wanted to share.  You can see lots more in the Flickr link at the top of my home page.  These are two of my favorites.

This is a section of Karen’s yellow and gray kaleidoscope quilt.  I taught this class several times last year at Knit One Smock Too and the quilts were beautiful.  I’ll show some more of them when I get my pictures a little more organized.   Karen just finished hers last week; it’s pretty wonderful!

I taught a big stitch hand quilting class on Tuesday at Knit One Smock Too and I’m hand quilting this baby quilt for somebody special.  It’s not fast but it is rewarding and nothing feels softer than hand quilting.  Sweet baby… I will post another picture after the basting threads are removed.  Give me another week.  🙂

I have taught Kim Diehl’s “Serendipity Sampler” quilt from her book, Simple Comforts to many people as a beginner hand applique block-of-the-month class.  It’s a great class because my beginners realize that freezer paper applique just isn’t that hard!  At my last block of the month, Sue made her beautiful modern version.   Gina Allen quilted it for her and it is hanging behind the counter at The Little General.

Here are some of the beautiful quilts the ladies in the Fat Stacks Club completed this past month. It was a pretty awesome show and tell! If you’re counting, that would be 17 quilt tops.  Gina at The Little General is signing up people now for the next round of the Fat Stacks Club. Don’t miss out on this fabulous club. As you can see, it is pretty inspiring.

I started a new beginner class today; it’s going to be a good one! I think it takes courage to walk in a quilt shop and sign up for a beginner class. My new students had not met me. They did not know each other. They had not done lots of sewing. They just walked into the shop and liked the quilt! We learned how to rotary cut (four fingers on the ruler; pinkie on the mat!) and they left to go home and cut their strips. They all bought beautiful fabric combinations. It will be fun to watch their quilts come together.

Welcome to my brand new blog where you can take a peak at some of the projects I’m working on, check out my latest class schedule and see some of the beautiful quilts my students have made. Looking forward to sharing it all with you! -kb